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No charges against Carl DeMaio in sex accusations, San Diego D.A. says

Republican congressional candidate Carl DeMaio won't face criminal charges in connection with sexual-misconduct allegations against him, the San Diego district attorney announced. Above, DeMaio during the 2012 San Diego mayoral campaign.
(Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
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No criminal charges will be filed regarding sexual misconduct allegations made against Republican congressional candidate Carl DeMaio, the San Diego district attorney announced Monday.

“No criminal charges will be filed at this time due to insufficiency of evidence,” according to a statement issued by Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis.

For the same reason, no charges will be filed involving an alleged burglary of DeMaio’s campaign office, Dumanis said.

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A 28-year-old former campaign worker has alleged that DeMaio touched him inappropriately and masturbated in front of him and then offered him $50,000 to remain silent.

DeMaio denies the accusations and accused the former campaign worker of fabricating the charges to cover the fact that he was a prime suspect in the break-in.

The charges and denials have taken center stage in the close race between DeMaio and Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) in the 52nd Congressional District, which covers Coronado, Poway and a northern swath of the city of San Diego.

Dumanis also announced that the office of the state attorney general “has confirmed” her decision not to recuse her office from the two cases. Dumanis, a Republican, endorsed DeMaio for mayor in 2012 and he held fundraisers for her in her bid for reelection this year.

The Police Department’s investigations were “very thorough, objective and professional,” Dumanis said.

“We use the same process and standards for evaluating cases no matter who the parties are,” Dumanis said. “Our focus is, and always will be, the pursuit of justice.”

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At the same time as the Dumanis statement, Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman released a statement that said, in part, “I am extremely proud of the professionalism exhibited by the officers and detectives involved in this sensitive investigation.”

Zimmerman encouraged anyone with additional information “related to either case” to contact the Police Department.

The DeMaio campaign issued a statement saying that the district attorney had found the ex-campaign worker’s “politically-motivated smears are without merit.”

But a spokesman for the Peters campaign said that it was time that DeMaio “stopped the blame game, stopped the smear campaign, leveled with San Diegans, apologized for his behavior and told the truth.”

DeMaio, 40, a former City Council member, was defeated for mayor in 2012. Peters, 56, an environmental attorney and former City Council member, was elected to Congress in 2012, defeating Republican incumbent Brian Bilbray.

Twitter: @LATsandiego

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